Gores: “It was the right thing to do. I feel good about it. It’s a very young team so we have to put them in a position to do well as much as possible. I felt they were not in a position to grow as much as possible so I feel good about it.”

Q: Has the team responded the way you hoped it would to the move? (The Pistons are 4-15 since the firing).

Gores: “The team is better than their record. They just are. They’re better than their record so I wouldn’t say they didn’t respond. They’re doing their best right now. I believe in these guys. I believe in this team.”

Q: Do you get the sense they had some difficulty with the decision or they understood it?

Gores: “I think they appreciate me being involved. I think they appreciate that, I think they appreciate the fact that we care. These guys, everybody wants to put it on the players and we have a great environment. John is doing a great job. John Loyer is doing a great job.”

Q: You were pretty blunt about the expectations this season. With the underperformance, where do you go from here?

Gores: “First of all, I’m not giving up. It’s not possible. We just got to keep building. We have great building blocks right now. We have young guys so I’m not going to give up. We got a lot to do. You know that no way anything great happens without tough times. That’s the way it goes. I’m comfortable.”

Q: Are you prepared to talk about the status of (GM Joe Dumars) and Loyer? (Dumars is in the final season of his contract to run the Pistons).

Gores: “We got to finish the season. We’re gonna get it done. We’re going to finish the season and then we’re gonna regroup and we’re going to reflect. But I’m not giving up on Detroit. I’m not giving up on our guys.”

He grew close to Cheeks and is still grasping why Cheeks was fired — especially since the Pistons had won four of six and two straight before Cheeks was let go after 50 games.

“You give a coach a half a season with new faces and new chemistry — that’s not enough time, I don’t think,” Jennings said Thursday after a long practice at the Toyota Center. “I felt like he was placed in a losing situation.

“We were winning, and now we’re playing like the old Pistons in the beginning.”

He was quick to say: “I don’t have a problem with John. It’s just with the whole thing of changing coaches was probably one of the more difficult things for me. John was our assistant, so I know a lot about John, but it’s more as a personal problem for me with Mo leaving.”

In fairness to the decision, team effort appeared to be a frequent problem under Cheeks. And the talented roster has underachieved all season.

Mo Cheeks has been relieved of his head coaching duties in Motown, the Pistons announced Sunday. Unable to meet the high expectations set forth by the front-office prior to this season, Detroit stumbled to a 21-29 record during Cheeks’ short reign. From the press release:

“This was a difficult decision for the organization to make but we needed to make a change,” said President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars. “We have great respect for Maurice and appreciate his hard work.”

“Our record does not reflect our talent and we simply need a change,” said Pistons owner Tom Gores. “We have not made the kind of progress that we should have over the first half of the season. This is a young team and we knew there would be growing pains, but we can be patient only as long as there is progress. The responsibility does not fall squarely on any one individual, but right now this change is a necessary step toward turning this thing around. I still have a lot of hope for this season and I expect our players to step up. I respect and appreciate Maurice Cheeks and thank him for his efforts; we just require a different approach.”

Detroit Pistons head coach Maurice Cheeks tried to downplay the growing gap between himself and unhappy forward Josh Smith. Cheeks claims that this is a bigger problem in the media than it is inside the Pistons’ locker room. Per the Detroit Free Press:

Detroit Pistons forward Josh Smith said his second-half benching Saturday night in a blowout loss at the Washington Wizards was “unfair.”

Coach Maurice Cheeks said (Sunday) that Smith is “entitled to his opinion.”

But it appears the two men will agree to disagree and move on. “Y’all the only one who got a problem with it,” Cheeks said. “Me and Josh are fine. Josh and I are fine.”

“I mean it’s unfair because as I told you before I play this game hard each and every day,” Smith said after the Wizards loss. “When I younger I would play this game for free year round. This is what I love to do so why wouldn’t I want to come out here and try to put my best foot forward every time I step out on the court?”

“That’s his opinion,” Cheeks said. “I watch a lot of judge shows. They always talk about people’s opinions. That’s OK, that’s his opinion. I can’t be in his brain and he’s certainly entitled to his opinion and I’m entitled to mine.”

When asked if he understood why Smith would think the move was unfair, Cheeks said no.

Josh Smith didn’t play during the second half of the Detroit Pistons’ 106-82 loss to the Washington Wizards Saturday night, and afterward, he was (not shockingly) none too happy about it. Via MLive.com:

Whatever happened in that locker room Saturday night, the Detroit Pistons left here with their first tangible turmoil of the season. Josh Smith didn’t play the second half of a 106-82 blowout against the Washington Wizards, the second time head coach Maurice Cheeks has made that decision this season.

This time, Smith suggested Cheeks called him out for not playing hard, and that he took “real offense” to the accusation.

[…] “Like I told y’all before when we had this conversation, when you hit adverse times, characters are gonna be tested,” Smith said. “It’s either that we’re gonna come closer together and make it all one team, or are you gonna use a scapegoat to get away from what’s really at hand?”

[…] What rankled Smith most was what he perceived as Cheeks questioning his effort.”It’s an honor for me to play, you know what I’m saying? So when anybody challenges — or anything about the fact that, you know, about me not wanting to play — then I take real offense to it,” Smith said.

Detroit Pistons head coach Maurice Cheeks knows that Brandon Jennings would like to be considered among the best point guards in the NBA, but says that can only happen when (if) he’s willing to D up. Per the Detroit News: “While Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is beginning to garner attention for his defensive intensity, one couldn’t help but notice Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio dissect the Pistons defense in their 121-94 shellacking at the Palace Tuesday. Caldwell-Pope is beginning to find his footing, limiting touches for opposing shooting guards and generally being in good positions, a hard task for swingmen given the difference between college zone defenses and the island they’re often placed on while defending athletic shooting guards and small forwards. His counterpart, Brandon Jennings, has never been known as a defensive stalwart and was the point man in the Pistons’ porous pick-and-roll defense Tuesday night. Cheeks, one of the best point guard defenders of all time, seemingly issued a challenge to Jennings about becoming a better defender. […] But with point guard being the deepest position in the league, one where there’s very few easy nights, Jennings can’t be a freeway to the lane, forcing teammates to clean up his mistakes. Jennings has a desire to be mentioned in the same breath as the league’s best point guards, so Cheeks is hoping he takes the defensive end as personally as he does his offense. ‘I think Jennings has a chance to be very good,’ Cheeks said. ‘And steps, I keep talking about steps. You take steps, you get better at defending your position. That’s how you become one of those elite players. You don’t become elite by having someone else guard your guy.'”

Former Detroit Pistons power forward Rasheed Wallace could soon be moving into the coaching ranks, which is just about the best news ever. Per the NY Daily News: “Rasheed Wallace is in talks with the Detroit Pistons to join Maurice Cheeks coaching staff.”

The word had been out that the Detroit Pistons were seriously considering OKC Thunder assistant coach Maurice Cheeks for their head coaching position. Now, they have confirmed the hiring. Per the press release: “Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has named Maurice Cheeks as head coach, signing him to a multi-year contract. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Cheeks brings more than 30-plus years of NBA experience to the job and becomes the 29th head coach in Detroit franchise history. He will be formally introduced to the Detroit media later this week. ‘We’re pleased to welcome Maurice Cheeks to the Pistons organization,’ Dumars said. ‘The leadership and player development qualities he brings as a former player and coach blends nicely with the roster we are building for the future. He’s won an NBA championship, coached in two NBA Finals as an assistant coach and mentored some of the top young players in the NBA.’ … ‘After spending some time with Maurice, I was very impressed not only with his basketball knowledge but his communication and leadership skills,’ said Pistons owner Tom Gores. ‘We are very excited to have someone of his experience and talent help take this franchise into the future.’ Cheeks joins the Pistons after serving four years as an assistant coach with Oklahoma City, where he helped guide the Thunder to a 212-100 (.707) record, four playoff appearances and an NBA Finals appearance in 2012.”

According to multiple published reports, Maurice Cheeks is inching ever closer to becoming the new head coach in Detroit. The Pistons are expected to offer Cheeks a contract soon. Per the Detroit News: “Maurice Cheeks appears to be the next head coach of the Detroit Pistons, according to sources. Cheeks, current assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder, looks to be the consensus choice for Pistons President Joe Dumars and owner Tom Gores. The Pistons fired Lawrence Frank at the end of this season, after a 29-win campaign and began interviewing candidates that ranged from Cheeks to Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer to Nate McMillan in the month-plus time, as Gores has likely stated his expectation to qualify for the 2014 playoffs. Apparently, Cheeks won out in the end, as it came down to himself and McMillan, a coach Dumars long had admired, who had a similar background to Cheeks as coach and former player. Cheeks, 56, could become the fifth coach since the Pistons won the NBA championship in 2004, and third in five years. The Pistons were one of 14 coaching openings since the end of the season, with six of those teams having made the playoffs. Cheeks has a career record of 284-286 in eight seasons, starting in Portland in 2001-05 where he amassed 99 wins in his first two seasons and then in Philadelphia from 2005-09.”

Reggie, Bernard and Don are just three of the finalists for this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class. Other notable names include Rick Pitino, Maurice Cheeks, Bill Fitch, and even Nike chairman Phil Knight. Per the AP: “Five-time NBA All-Star Reggie Miller and Don Nelson, the league’s winningest coach, headline the list of 12 finalists for the 2012 class for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Miller was joined Friday by three other first-time finalists — five-time NCAA Final Four coach Rick Pitino, former NBA coach Bill Fitch and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katrina McClain. Previous finalists on the ballot again are Nelson, Maurice Cheeks, Bernard King, Dick Motta, Hank Nichols, Ralph Sampson, Jamaal Wilkes and the All-American Red Heads, known as the female version of the Harlem Globetrotters and the first women’s professional basketball team. The class of 2012 will be announced April 2 at NCAA Final Four in New Orleans. A finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for election.”

No Reggie, but the finalists for the 2012 HOF Class are all sneaky deserving: “Dennis Rodman, Jamaal Wilkes and Tex Winter were among 12 finalists announced Friday for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. […] The other finalists are former NBA stars Maurice Cheeks, Chris Mullin and Ralph Sampson, five-time Olympian Teresa Edwards, Stanford women’s coach Tara VanDerveer, former NBA coach Dick Motta, Philadelphia University coach Herb Magee, college referee Hank Nichols, and Al Attles, the current vice president and assistant general manager of the Golden State Warriors.”

Rus Bradburd was an NCAA coach when he helped recruit Tim Hardaway to UTEP. By the time Timmy’s career finished, Bradburd was a full-time professor and scribe. That’s what made him uniquely qualified to pen this Tim Hardaway Old School that ran in SLAM 121.–Ed.

by Rus Bradburd

The theory is, if you’re looking for top engineering, you buy German. The hottest green chile is from New Mexico. The best baseball prospects live in the Dominican Republic. But if you’re searching for a floor leader for your basketball team, Chicago is the Mecca. You could field a decade of NBA All-Star teams with Chicago point guards. Rickey Green. Maurice Cheeks. Kevin Porter. Isiah Thomas. Doc Rivers.

Here’s my theory: Credit for the preponderance of prototypical Chicago point guards since 1971 goes to Bulls’ former floor leader Norm Van Lier. Years before the Jordan Era, Van Lier clawed out a name for himself—part streetfighter, part Chicago union worker. He had large lumps on his elbows and knobby knees from diving on the floor. The diminutive Van Lier would dish dimes, get technicals and once threatened an NBA center with a chair.

Here’s another theory: Don’t believe the hype. Maurice Cheeks and Kevin Porter were hardly on anyone’s recruiting list. Cheeks went to West Texas State, Porter to St. Francis of PA.

Tim Hardaway’s name was not listed by the scouting services, either.

Yet another theory: If we had signed Tim Hardaway early at UTEP, where I was an assistant coach at the time, we’d get a steal. This was 1984, the first year of Early Signing. Okay, that’s not unusual. What made this a gamble was that we had not yet seen him play. But in-the-know Chicago people kept mentioning him with reverence. These men were also a mystery and used only nicknames. Tree, Mac, Red and Pie.

My only option was to see Hardaway in a pick-up game. “Watch for how hard he plays,” head coach Don Haskins had told me when I left El Paso. My job as an assistant coach: sneak into town, make our pitch and check out his game.

Timmy wouldn’t be the first great point guard to play for UTEP. The first was Bobby Joe Hill, who stole the ball—hell, he had stolen the whole show—from Kentucky in the landmark 1966 championship game of Glory Road fame. But before his senior year, Hill had gotten married, had a baby, got hurt, lost focus and never played in the NBA. Hill settled in El Paso, working for the gas company. He’d still come to practice occasionally, gliding in with a soulful, slow-but-rhythmic walk and a gleam in his eye that seemed to say he knew the secret.

Right after Hill, Nate “Tiny” Archibald came to El Paso, en route to a thrilling NBA career that included his once leading the League in points and assists during the same season (’72-73).

Neither Hill nor Archibald were known for their relentless hustle. Instead, they were thinkers, poker players, cool assassins in high-tops. They pissed off Coach Haskins.

Sitting in his South Side home, Hardaway seemed to have the right blend of humility and confidence. Even his nickname then—“Tim Bug”—seemed pretty modest. Not like, say, “Half-Man, Half-Amazing.”

His mother was a mail carrier, a fearless breed forged in Windy City winters. His parents were divorced but friendly; Hardaway’s father, Donald, lived down the block. I was just 25 then, not old enough to know how large Donald’s shadow loomed over Tim.

Near the end of the evening, a slight break in the modesty: “Some people say I play like Isiah Thomas,” Hardaway said matter-of-factly. It got quiet. Sure, Hardaway was great for South Shore Park, but Isiah was the best small player in the world.

Hardaway was going to be playing the next day at the South Shore YMCA, where Tim was known simply as “Donald Hardaway’s son.” Donald had been a Chicago playground star, but college never appealed to him. Instead he joined the Army but continued to hone his game for years at the South Shore Y. He was bigger than Tim, nearly 6-3, and his way of bonding with his son was by tossing him out to the crafty men at the Y who would teach him how the game was still supposed to be played. It would be an education in The Classics, where dunking and selfishness were out. Passing and ballhandling skills were in.

Everyone—even Tree, Mac, Red and Pie—said that Hardaway couldn’t shoot. “Corkscrew” and “knuckleball,” they admitted. But Hardaway made every shot he put up, arching up heaves with no backspin. He was assaulting the fundamentals of shooting, but who cared? Most surprising was that he did not play hard, and this with a college coach staring him down. He played smart, and relaxed, like it was the first level of PacMan—it was all a breezy warm-up and he seemed to have a pocket full of quarters. He was omniscient—he could intuit how plays would develop, as though everyone was in slow motion except him.

I knew we’d found the right point guard.

A good thing happened to Hardaway early in his first season at UTEP—he landed on somebody’s foot, almost broke his ankle and had to miss five games.

He was just starting to blossom and looked ready to assume his rightful place in the starting lineup, a rarity for a Haskins freshman. It was all coming too easy for him, and the time off helped him further understand when to use the gas pedal, but more importantly, when to put on the brakes. He soon learned how far he could cheat off his man, when to penetrate, when to gamble on defense. He also knew when to listen to Haskins and when to ignore him, a rare sort of wisdom. He also had an uncommon feel about what not to do. He didn’t over-dribble or hold the ball too long on the break. Bad shots were out of the question. He didn’t get frazzled when Haskins chewed on him, and there was a lot of that. He never said anything dumb.

Coach Haskins would confide privately how Hardaway had a chance to be his best point guard ever. That would have surprised Hardaway—Haskins talked to him as though he never did anything right. Or, more precisely, Hardaway was treated like everyone else. Nothing was good enough, especially in the half-court offense.

Already a master of leading a fast break, Hardaway, ironically, was fortunate to play for one of the most patient offensive coaches around. The emphasis on a slower style forced Hardaway to ignore his strengths (like racing through the middle on a three-on-two fast break) and learn to play in a half-court setting. Coming off screens, reading the post, passing angles, measuring the defense, all became points of emphasis for the sponge-like Hardaway.

And perhaps most important, he had to develop a consistent perimeter jumpshot, something a run-and-gun point guard is less concerned about. Hardaway would stay late, launching shots from behind the new three-point line. Haskins, a noted shooter in his day, gradually gave up after weeks of trying to help Hardaway get backspin. Still, Hardaway kept a secret like Bobby Joe Hill: He wouldn’t really unveil his three-point shot until it was ready. His entire sophomore year, as a full-time starter, he only attempted 12.

Then tragedy hammered Hardaway. His high school coach, Bob Walters, died of cancer at age 43. Walters was an unassuming Arkansas man, a good coach and a better person. He’d never mentioned the cancer that was already eating him alive, always presenting himself with dignity and poise. Although he’d overcome homesickness his first year, now Hardaway seemed to cling to home again, keeping in constant contact with his parents, grandmother and his fearless high school sweetheart, “Lady.”

Then his backcourt running mate, a charismatic L.A. kid with a huge smile named Jeep Jackson, collapsed at a spring benefit game and never regained consciousness. Jackson seemed like the kind of guy who would live forever, and in a way he did in El Paso. Tim went home that summer undoubtedly introspective. Would he stay in El Paso?

Dude is basically ignoring everyone in the organization, and won’t be on hand for the Spectrum’s final game: “Maurice Cheeks is not scheduled to be at the Wachovia Spectrum tonight. He will not stand with Julius Erving, Bobby Jones and Moses Malone, his teammates on the 76ers’ 1982-83 NBA championship team, for the final game played at the arena where they raised a banner. He will not watch this mid-March version of the Sixers, the ones he coached until being fired in December, play the Chicago Bulls…Sixers coach Tony DiLeo said he left Cheeks a message ‘a long time ago’ and still hadn’t heard back. ‘Whenever he’s ready, I’m sure he’ll get back to me,’ DiLeo said.”

QUOTES OF THE DAY“All ice. Icing everywhere. It would probably have a No. 1 in the middle just iced out and just crazy ice, that’s all I’ve got say. And real big, real big.” — Dwyane Wade, on his design for the Heat championship ring.

“I haven’t really had an opportunity to get too many calls. I think I already forgot my password to my voicemail, so I ain’t checked my voicemail yet.” — Dwyane Wade.

“I get up and down the court. I like to dunk…I’m sure (Nuggets fans will) love me.” — JR Smith.

“Some people tried to act like there was something wrong with LeBron not signing the full max contract. I call that pessimism in search of an object. We have him for four more years, and we’re excited about that.” — Dan Gilbert, Cavs owner.

THE LINKS…
• Cavs owner and money machine Dan Gilbert says they’re excited to have LeBron under contract, no matter how long he’s signed for. Good interview with Gilbert, who comes across as the kind of owner a lot of fans — OK, at least Hawks fans — would like to have.

• Sixers coach Mo Cheeks believes that Allen Iverson will be back in Philly next season. We’ll have more on Iverson later today in The Links…

• …but Sixers young buck Louis Williams is tearing it up in the summer leagues. I heard him described by someone out there observing as “bouncy as hell” on the floor.

• Hearing that Michael Jordan has hired a friend to serve as the president of the BETcats doesn’t sound so promising, but Fred Whitfield has impressive credentials and he’s from Charlotte, so maybe this is actually a nice fit.

• Checking in with the Heat players as they recover from their championship hangover.

• The Blazers were so excited to ink Ghostface Przyzbilla to an extension that they printed up t-shirts and invited fans to a press conference and everything.

• Not only is JR Smith pumped to go somewhere he’ll get playing time, but he says Kenyon Martin is his mom’s favorite player.

• The Jazz must have hired the Nets’ former doctor: They just sent their second guy home from the summer leagues due to high blood pressure. Either they need a nutritionist out there or everyone can’t handle Jerry Sloan.